Peer Review Record

The manuscript addresses a relevant area of applied microbiology by isolating cyanobacterial strains from sixteen maize-growing locations and evaluating their plant growth-promoting potential through a maize seed germination experiment. Reviewers recognised the effort involved in the isolation work and considered the topic pertinent to the understanding of cyanobacteria as plant growth-promoting microorganisms. The principal concern raised by both reviewers related to the reliability of taxonomic assignment, as identification to genus level based on morphological and biochemical characteristics alone was judged insufficient without molecular confirmation. Reviewers further noted that several characterisation tests applied are conventional bacteriological procedures of limited diagnostic value for cyanobacteria. Additional major revisions were requested concerning the description of the aqueous extract preparation, the adequacy of the seed germination experimental design and replication, quantitative assessment of phosphate solubilisation and siderophore production, stronger evidence for nitrogen-fixing capability, and the addition of further plant growth-promoting traits such as phytohormone production. Presentation required major revision, including compliance with the journal word limit, addition of keywords, consistent italicisation of scientific names, correction of citation formatting, complete figure and table legends, appropriate placement of all figures and tables, and replacement of low-resolution or incomplete images with high-quality figures covering all isolates and consortia evaluated. The authors satisfactorily addressed all comments, after which the manuscript was accepted for publication.

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